Good choice, really like this game.
I was afraid my PC wouldn't be able to run it when I saw the visuals in action, but after getting my hands on it (and after all the updates), my rig runs it excellently at max settings. And with that said, the visuals are utterly gorgeous and I have to say the screenshots shared by the press don't do the game justice. The character animations are top-notch and move with a very life-like flow (easily witnessed when you first meet Vess), with voice acting that equally compliments the game's rich party of personalities.
The combat is solid, but will take some getting used to for sure. It's definitely along the lines of Assassin's Creed combat with just a hint of Fable, such as taking on a group of enemies then flowing between spells and melee. I've really been enjoying the story so far and its cinematic approach, throw that in with believable acting and meaningful characters and it becomes easy to actually care for what's going on in the game.
I'm wondering if they'll be keeping the nudity and sex scenes intact for the console port, even though they don't really add much to the story, they do help give a bit more weight to the intimate and lust-filled moments. Still, as great as this game is it does have its cons, though only a few. For one: Even though this game was well designed for both Keyboard/Mouse and an Xbox 360 controller.. the interface text is mind-bogglingly small. It's great that it fully supports Xbox controllers so one doesn't have to hunch over a desk all day... but not so great when they designed it for one to be sitting 3ft. away at max distance. I sit 7-8ft away from my HDTV which the rig is hooked up to, and I can't read a damn thing on this game's menu, very annoying.
The other cons I have is NPC difficulty, in large numbers it can be a bit of a handful especially when enemies are at your back, however 1-on-1 and it's not that difficult. Even at higher difficulties, which only changes their stats and not the AI where in some cases enemies will patiently wait for attacks. The final con I have are the journal entries for quest objectives, if you don't pay close attention to dialogue/cutscenes you're going to be pretty lost in many places. Vague journal entries of what you have to do along with objective markers being non-existent at times on your map.
Still, cons aside. This game was definitely worth it and I gladly recommend it.
Cons:
- Not very challenging AI, especially later in the game.
- Small text menu that isn't ideal for couch players. (PC)
- Vague journal entries with many quests that don't have a quest marker.
- There are moments where the game tries to play at being stealthy, but falls flat without any real stealth mechanics.
Pros:
- Gorgeous visuals with life-like animations, epic environments, and well designed cut-scenes.
- Solid combat with a nice flow between melee and ranged.
- Good depth to character development with many abilities & skills to choose from.
- Voice acting is great and allows for players to care for the characters.
- Deep storytelling that has been excellent so far. The story revolves around Geralt mainly, and you'll get as deep a story on him as you will with Kaim from Lost Odyssey in the dream sequences.
- Conversation choices can make a difference and interacting with the characters is entertaining.